Friday, October 23, 2009

That was the week that was...

I'm behind on my posting, but I've been dealing with midterms, specifically midterm exams. I gave two. One went off without a hitch; the other didn't.

I updated my course site with a midterm for my freshmen. I saved it and displayed it in Moodle, and it looked fine to me.

I started grading those midterms Tuesday and became increasingly frustrated because the students weren't following my directions.

I sent the midterms back with a remonstrance. And then my students started emailing me, protesting my severe grading. I checked the midterm. It was not the midterm I posted, but a midterm from the spring. The date on the exam was March 9; not one student emailed me to ask me if that was the correct exam. Not one.

I threw the exam grades out. Regardless of whose fault (I blame Moodle) it was, I wasn't going back to regrade those papers. It took me two days to grade them the first time, and I don't want to read them again. The sad thing is removing the grade didn't not impact midterm grades significantly.

But I learned something. Always change the filename before you upload it. Then you'll know that the file you want someone to see is the one he does see.

****

Okay. This is how I sprained my ankle.

I worked out in the yard last Saturday for several hours, weeding and planting my "fence" garden. Here's a picture:

When I did what I set out to do, I came in the house to get a cup of coffee.

I opened the door from the living room to the garage to go back outside. I have three steps leading down (or up). I turned sideways to close the door, then proceeded to bounce down those three concrete steps. I had to sit there in a puddle of coffee for about five minutes before I could move. I hoisted myself up the stairs butt first and managed to drag myself into the living room. I couldn't stand up for about 10 minutes; I was too shaken and too wobbly. My left ankle swelled a great deal. It's still swollen, and it hurts once in a while, but ice and an ace bandage help.

The coffee cup did not break, just in case you're wondering.

I cannot tell you, really, how it happened. It just did. I'm hobbling, but at least I'm moving around and I didn't break anything, as far as I can tell.

Here's what it looked like a week ago:

I'm not taking off the ace bandage to show you what it looks like today! That hurts too much.

2 comments:

My sympathies for your ankle accident, the swelling is horrible. You may want to get it looked at; you never know when a small bone may have fractured. My wife broke her ankle in Jan 2008. Dr. Cox, Stephen L., had to put two screws and a plate in to keep everything aligned as it healed. He is an excellent specialist and my wife commented that he favors Tom Cruise. I am glad you did not break your coffee cup; I would be devastated if mine were to break. I suspect you were not burned either. I will pray for your speedy recovery.

About Me

I am an instructor at a local college where I teach freshman comp (rhetoric and literature), advanced compostion/creative nonfiction, Intro to Fiction, and Writing in the Humanities. I've also taught technical writing.
"My business is circumference."
Emily Dickinson in a letter to T. W. Higginson, July 1862.